Blue Mind

Plastic Free Jersey creates a Blue Mind experience

Since launching in May of this year, the Plastic Free Jersey team have been working hard to meet the objectives set by Surfers Against Sewage to certify as a Plastic Free Community. On the 6th December 2018, Hugo Tagholm, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage will award us with our certification. They’ll be celebrating with three unique events at the Radisson.

On the evening of the 6th, Plastic Free Jersey will be celebrating with all their supporters at a special event at the Radisson. They’ll take the opportunity to showcase all the local businesses, schools & community groups who’ve succeeding in taking action to reduce their single-use plastic consumption.

PWC are supporting the evening event and are one of the many local businesses who have joined the campaign by removing three items of single use plastic from their business.

‘We’re so excited to bring everyone together and celebrate what has been an incredible year. We’ve been overwhelmed with the support that we’ve had and the momentum that has grown around the single use plastic issue. I think, as islanders, we’re all so proud of our beautiful coastline, and Plastic Free Jersey has given us a very practical way to protect it.

But as we all know, taking care of our ocean is a mammoth task. It’s important not only to look at what we’ve achieved so far, but also share our plans for the next year. On the night of the 6th we’ll be unveiling our latest education project and strategy for 2019.’

Linzi Hawkin, Co-Founder, Plastic Free Jersey

The team have collaborated with Protect Blue to build a large scale ocean inspired art installation that will immerse guests in the reality of our time. The aim of the experience is connect people to their ‘blue mind’ - a concept first established by scientist & author, Wallace J Nichols. His work on the ‘blue mind’ includes the vast cognitive, emotional, psychological, social, physical, and spiritual benefits that we can all derive from connection to healthy waters and oceans throughout our lives.

Luke Hosty said:

“We believe powerful storytelling is essential to encourage support, recognition and ultimately action. We’re working closely with like-minded organisations like Plastic Free Jersey to promote and enable action within our local community. We, collectively, raise support to create positive change and source ethical solutions, for our ocean and the global communities that it sustains. We believe in celebrating our blue planet through helping individuals and organisations create their own path to sustainable living. Visual Art allows us to create interactive and sensory experiences to share insight and knowledge about our ocean and human behaviour. Each one of us has the ability to access our blue mind, we just have to unlock it.”

And thanks to Carey Olsen, another Plastic Free Jersey business, the art installation will remain open on the morning of the 7th December for a number of primary school classes to visit.

Jane Burns, States of Jersey Eco Active Programme Manager, said:

“Joining in with the Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Communities programme demonstrates how important the issue of plastic pollution is to the community of Jersey. This certification marks a milestone in our efforts to reduce our use of unnecessary plastics and we are excited for 2019 when we will take this even further.

With the global amount of plastic being produced set to reach 640 million tonnes by 2034 we really need to do our bit and reduce what we use. Current figures show that 33% of plastic is used once and discarded and approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into the oceans every day. So, it is vital that Jersey is part of the global solution to this environmental disaster.”